The top four races in England, Spain, Germany and Italy are going down to the wire with few points separating multiple teams. Meanwhile, Barcelona were crowned La Liga champions and Rennes won the battle of David vs Goliath.
La Liga
Barcelona secured the La Liga title with a 1-0 win over Levante at the Camp Nou. A classy finish from Lionel Messi along with a solid defensive performance ensured the Blaugrana’s status as champions of Spain for the seventh time in 10 years.
No one wants fourth in Spain! Valencia, Sevilla and Getafe all suffered defeats on the weekend, failing to assert themselves in the top four. With three games remaining it is anyone’s game; however, Valencia have the easiest run home as Sevilla and Getafe still have to face Atléti and Barcelona respectively.
Real Madrid have gone down 1-0 to relegation-destined Rayo Vallecano. The loss was symbolic of Los Blancos’ inconsistent season which has seen little, if any improvement since Zinedine Zidane’s return. They will finish third for the second year running, behind rivals Atléti and Barcelona.
Other results:
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Alavés
Atlético Madrid 1-0 Real Valladolid
Leganés 0-0 Celta Vigo
Villarreal 1-1 Huesca
Still to play:
Real Betis vs Espanyol
Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund have imploded with an embarrassing 4-2 home loss to rivals Schalke. Trailing 2-1, Dortmund’s Marco Reus put in a reckless challenge which prompted his dismissal, and the subsequent free-kick was placed beautifully in the top corner from Daniel Caligiuri. The home side were then reduced to nine for a near-identical challenge from Marius Wolf. Remarkably Axel Witsel pulled one back for BVB, before Breel Embolo sealed the points for Schalke.
Bayern Munich had the chance to virtually seal the title, however stumbled at the hands of Nürnberg. Matheus Pereira finished wonderfully to put Nürnberg ahead, but the Bavarians were never going to die down. Serge Gnabry found the equaliser late on to snatch a point and send Bayern two points clear atop the standings.
RB Leipzig made it 10 wins from their past 13 matches with a 2-1 victory over Freiburg. Timo Werner notched his 15th goal of the season to put his side ahead, while Emil Forsberg scored the winner just 12 minutes from time to help continue Leipzig’s incredible run of form.
Other results:
Augsburg 1-4 Bayer Leverkusen
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0 Hertha
Hannover 1-0 Mainz
Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-1 Werder Bremen
VfB Stuttgart 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Hoffenheim 1-4 Wolfsburg
Premier League
Manchester City reclaimed top spot in the Premier League with a nervy 1-0 win away to Burnley. City had an abundance of chances, only to be denied continuously by a stern Burnley defence. Pep Guardiola’s side finally found the breakthrough when Sergio Agüero’s shot crossed the line by under three centimetres, putting City in the box seat to win back-to-back titles with two games to go.
Liverpool ensured they did not slip up, demolishing bottom-placed Huddersfield 5-0. Naby Keita’s goal in the first minute was added to by Mo Salah and Sadio Mane who each scored a brace. The Reds are one point behind City with two winnable fixtures remaining.
Manchester United and Chelsea have played out a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in a battle for fourth place. Former Chelsea player Juan Mata opened the scoring for the Red Devils before a David de Gea howler gifted Marco Alonso the equaliser. Chelsea sit two points clear in fourth, while United are three points behind them in sixth.
Other results:
Tottenham 0-1 West Ham
Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton
Fulham 1-0 Carfiff
Southampton 3-3 Bournemouth
Watford 1-2 Wolverhampton
Brighton 1-1 Newcastle
Leicester 3-0 Arsenal
Serie A
Inter and Juventus did battle in the Derby d’Italia at the San Siro, as Inter aimed to assert themselves further inside the top four. They got off to the perfect start thanks to a Radja Nainggolan thunderbolt inside seven minutes. However, Cristiano Ronaldo was able to score spectacularly in the second-half against the run of play to level the scores at 1-1.
Milan’s slump has miserably continued with a 2-0 loss away to Torino. Two goals in ten minutes from Andrea Belotti and Alex Berenguer saw Torino jump the Rossoneri in the standings up to sixth and into contention for the UEFA Champions League.
Roma have given their top four hopes a boost with a 3-0 win against Cagliari. Two goals inside eight minutes from Federico Fazio and Javier Pastore saw the Giallorossi on their way before Aleksandar Kolarov added a third minutes from time.
Other results:
Bologna 3-1 Empoli
Frosinone 0-2 Napoli
SPAL 1-1 Genoa
Chievo 1-1 Parma
Sampdoria 1-2 Lazio
Still to play:
Atalanta vs Udinese
Fiorentina vs Sassuolo
Ligue 1
Lyon recorded a crucial win against Bordeaux which prevented them from being brought back into the pack. Trailing 2-1, Bruno Génésio’s men were able to conjure two late goals to remain in third with just four matches remaining.
Marseille’s chance at a top three finish is all but gone as they went down 2-1 to Nantes. Mario Balotelli cancelled out Samuel Moutoussamy’s opener, however Nantes were able to find the winner through Andrei Girotto, making it four wins on the trot for the club.
Other results:
Amiens 0-0 Strasbourg
Angers 1-1 Reims
Caen 1-0 Dijon
Lille 5-0 Nîmes
Nice 3-0 Guingamp
St Etienne 2-0 Toulouse
Coupe de France Final
Paris Saint-Germain went in as heavy favourites in the final against Rennes and were on their way to victory after opening up a two-goal lead inside 21 minutes – Brazilians Dani Alves and Neymar finding the net. Rennes fought back hard to level the scores in the second-half and took the game to penalties. Christopher Nkunku blasted his spot kick over the bar to hand Rennes their third ever Coupe de France.
